| Birth Date: | 12 February 1927 |
| Birth Place: | Little Rock, Arkansas, U.S. |
| Birth Name: | Alma Mabel Conner |
| Death Date: | [1] |
| Death Place: | Horam, East Sussex, England |
| Occupation: | Actress, voice artist |
| Years Active: | 1934–1968 |
| Spouse: | [2] [3] |
| Children: | 3 |
Alma Mabel Conner (February 12, 1927 [4] – January 31, 2018), known professionally as Ann Gillis, was an American actress, best known for her film roles as a child actress. She performed the voice of Faline (as young adult) in the 1942 Disney animated film Bambi.
Gillis was born in Little Rock, Arkansas.[5] She started her career in the early 1930s, when she was age 7. After small roles, she got her first major part in King of Hockey (1936). In the following years, she played supporting roles, and Warner Brothers Pictures wanted her to be another Shirley Temple, but she mostly played "spoiled brats".
Among her bigger roles were Becky Thatcher in David O. Selznick's The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1938) and Annie in Little Orphan Annie (1938). She also provided the voice of Faline in Bambi (1942).[6]
She ended her Hollywood film career in 1947 and married her second husband, British actor Richard Fraser in 1952. Following her Hollywood career, she turned to occasional television work in the UK. Gillis appeared in two episodes of The Saint in 1964-1965, followed by a small part in 2001: A Space Odyssey, playing Dr. Poole's mother. She is seen onscreen congratulating her son on his birthday. She later lived in Belgium.[7]
On January 31, 2018, Gillis died in a nursing home in Horam, East Sussex, England, at the age of 90.[8]
| Year | Title | Role | Note | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1934 | Men in White | Flower Girl | uncredited | |
| 1936 | The Great Ziegfeld | Mary Lou as a Child | Uncredited | |
| The Singing Cowboy | Lou Ann Stevens | |||
| Postal Inspector | Little Alice | uncredited | ||
| The Garden of Allah | Convent Girl #2 | uncredited | ||
| The Man I Marry | Little Girl | uncredited | ||
| Under Your Spell | Gwendolyn | uncredited | ||
| King of Hockey | Peggy 'Princess' O'Rourke | |||
| 1937 | Off to the Races | Winnie Mae | ||
| You Can't Buy Luck | Peggy | uncredited | ||
| The Californian | Rosalia as a Child | |||
| 1938 | The Adventures of Tom Sawyer | Becky Thatcher | ||
| Peck's Bad Boy with the Circus | Fleurette de Cava | |||
| Little Orphan Annie | Annie | |||
| 1939 | Beau Geste | Isobel Rivers as a Child | ||
| The Under-Pup | Letty Lou | |||
| 1940 | Edison, the Man | Nancy Grey | ||
| All This, and Heaven Too | Emily Schuyler | |||
| My Love Came Back | Valerie Malette | |||
| Little Men | Nan | |||
| 1941 | Nice Girl? | Nancy Dana | ||
| Mr. Dynamite | Joey, a.k.a. Abigail | |||
| Glamour Boy | Brenda Lee | |||
| 1942 | Meet the Stewarts | Jane Goodwin | ||
| Tough As They Come | Frankie Taylor | |||
| Bambi | Faline (as a young adult) | voice, uncredited | ||
| 'Neath Brooklyn Bridge | Sylvia | |||
| 1943 | Stage Door Canteen | Herself | ||
| The Man from Music Mountain | Penny Winters | |||
| 1944 | Since You Went Away | Becky Anderson – Class President | uncredited | |
| Janie | Paula Rainey | |||
| In Society | Gloria | |||
| A Wave, a WAC and a Marine | Judy | |||
| 1945 | The Cheaters | Angela Pidgeon | ||
| 1946 | Gay Blades | Helen Dowell | ||
| Janie Gets Married | Paula Rainey | |||
| The Time of Their Lives | Nora O'Leary | |||
| Sweetheart of Sigma Chi | Sue | |||
| 1947 | Big Town After Dark | Susan Peabody LaRue | ||
| 1968 | 2001: A Space Odyssey | Poole's Mother |